Ectopic lipid

Figure 6.2 Ectopic lipid accumulation and insulin resistance. As obesity progresses, lipid accumulation occurs in other organs ( ectopic sites). The lipid accumulation in these ectopic sites leads to insulin resistance (impaired glucose uptake in muscle, and increased glucose output in liver), and to impaired insulin seoretion from the p-cells of the pancreas.

Contrary to fructose-mediated increase in LPL expression which led to tissue lipid accumulation, this GA-mediated increase in LPL expression in all tissues neither leads toward ectopic lipid depositions nor insulin resistance. In addition, the significant upregulation of LPL activities in the liver is probably because the liver is centrally involved in metabolism. This may have the highest distribution of GA. Studies on distribution of intravenous (IV) administration of GA in rats have confirmed that GA distribution is highest in the liver [68], thus further supporting... 

Y. Ihara, M. Yoshimura, E. Miyoshi, A. Nishikawa, A.S. Sultan, S. Toyosawa, A. Ohnishi, M. Suzuki, K. Yamamura, N. Ijuhin, N. Taniguchi, Ectopic expression of N-acetylglucosa-minyltransferase III in transgenic hepatocytes disrupts apolipoprotein B secretion and induces aberrant cellular morphology with lipid storage, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 1998. 95, 2526-2530. 

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